The continuing incidence of oil spillage into storm drains and other water collection systems results in enormous annual costs, both financial and environmental.
Known systems for the clean-up of oil spilled into catchbasins include polypropylene filters, which are inadequate in filtering the oil over a long time and in the large quantities often spilled. In addition, debris often clogs known systems, preventing effective collection of oil. Also, water flow may vary considerably.
There has been a need for some time, therefore, for better oil-recovery systems that would (1) permit more complete cleanup, (2) work for a longer time, (3) contain oil quickly, to collect large "pulses" of oil, (4) permit the oil to be absorbed without being clogged with debris, and (5) to permit oil to be absorbed regardless of water flow rate.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to achieve a more effective system for recovering oil from water passing into storm drains or the like.
It is another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for effectively containing oil spills flowing into storm drains, over a range of flow rates.
It is another object of the invention to provide methods and apparatus for ameliorating oil spills by entrapping the oil in an oil-sorbent material.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means of improving the collection of spilled oil.
It is another object of the invention to provide collection systems that do not cause debris clogs.
The present invention achieves the above and other objectives by use of a water- and oil-porous sack containing with a hydrophobic, compliant, oil-absorbent, copolymer material arranged in a number of bodies that (a) are generally cylindrical, (b) are porous, (c) have at least one passageway parallel to the axis of the cylinder, and (d) are dimensioned to float on water with the axis parallel to the surface of the water. The material is formed with a binder in a novel extrusion process. The inventive sack is sewn to create a number of pockets, and the seams create fold lines that permit the sack to dip below the water to allow debris to pass. The inventive sacks can be suspended below a storm drain and used in conjunction with known catchbasin inserts.
Other aspects of the invention will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after a reading of the detailed disclosure of the present invention below.